Jac's favorite recent pop culture and Internet findings

Planking
can be dangerous. Tebowing is just plain dumb. If there’s one viral Internet
pose I can sign off on, it’s Draping.
Fashioned after Don Draper's iconic pose in the Mad Men intro, Draping has infiltrated the interwebs! This is all in anticipation for Sunday's long-awaited two-hour season premiere. Read more about that here.Like
many fun Internet bits I stumble upon, Drinkify is a really simple site that
has that cool, “Why didn’t I think of that?” factor. Just enter the artist you’re
listening to (or plan to that night), and Drinkify matches a perfect beverage
to match. Vampire Weekend = PBR, Sleigh Bells = 10 oz. Whiskey (”Serve neat.”)
and, because I was curious, Justin Bieber = 8 oz. Red Bull.Anyone who knows my television habits is fully aware of my love for Bravo shows. I know, it's an abomination, but sometimes you just want a Taco Bell bean burrito instead of a fresh-cooked meal, and sometimes I want to watch Real Housewives instead of quality television. It keeps me grounded.The latest gem Bravo has bestowed upon us: Shahs of Sunset, a reality show (duh) about a wealthy group of Persians in Beverly Hills. Don't hate me. The following is one of many internet rants from Shahs' hottest piece, Reza (NSFW). I'll never look at Parmesan cheese the same way again.
The award for web video series that will make you snort aloud, revealing that you're screwing around at work goes to...Bad Lip Readings! I'm late on this, I know, but damn if these stupid videos aren't hilarious. Unfortunately Rick Santorum's real words are just as ridiculous as the ones dubbed in this video.
One
could not recap recent internet/popular news without mentioning KNOYGATE. Though
anyone reading this has access to the Internet and therefore has probably been
bombarded with the progressing stories on Kony, allow me to briefly explain.
Joseph
Kony is the head of a Ugandan
guerilla group that terrorizes the country, murdering villages, kidnapping
children from their homes and turning them into soliders. He’s an international
villain, and filmmaker/activist Jason Russell
has made it his mission to stop him. Russell created the film-turned-movement
Invisible Children after spending time in Uganda. The movie’s been around since
2006, but Russell recently started an internet campaign, KONY 2012,
to spread awareness about the injustice in Uganda.The video flooded Facebook
walls, news sites and Twitter Feeds like wildfire. It was particularly popular
with younger people, because the video targeted American youth, explaining that
if enough people know who Kony is, we can get our government to do something
about him. That translates to "Young people can make a difference," which is totally a good thing. Kids have been infiltrating malls, sharing KONY 2012 stickers and bracelets to spread awareness. But some people started to get concerned.
See,
it’s obviously great that young people are concerned about international
injustice. But fad activism isn’t just annoying; following an organization you don't previously research is dumb – and re-posting
a YouTube video doesn’t make you an activist.
Soon after the video went viral came speculation about Russell and Invisible Children. Because, you know, some
people like to look into an organization before blindly accepting its cause.
Turns out just a little over one-third of the non-profit’s funds went to
direct services in Uganda, in addition to countless examples of fishiness.
Most funding was spent on travel expenses and film production. So the people who were
critical about the whole KONY viral vid weren’t just being dicks after all.
Then,
something crazy happened. Literally.
Jason
Russell lost his shit. Last week, Russell ran around naked, shouting obscenities on a sidewalk
in San Diego. He was arrested, but not charged, and sent to a hospital on a 5150
psychiatric hold. Most recently, he has been diagnosed with "reactive psychosis"
brought on by stress, dehydration and exhaustion.
All
this, in a matter of weeks! Really, I don’t mean to make light of an
international war criminal and an activist’s state of health, but this story
has brought up more drama than any soap opera could dream. And that’s why I
love the Internet.